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Psst! We're moving!
At that moment, a knock sounded, and the head of the Social Affairs 1st Division entered the office.
“Did you call for me? Oh, CEO is here too?”
The team leader looked visibly flustered to be summoned to a meeting involving not just the News Director but also the CEO himself. Unsure of why he had been called, he nervously glanced between the two.
“What do you want to do about it?”
Eun-yoo asked Joo-hyuk directly.
What to do about it?
In his current state, Joo-hyuk couldn’t provide an answer. The issue wasn’t with him—it was with Sena.
“Could you wait outside for a moment?”
“Yes, understood.”
Recognizing the situation, Eun-yoo dismissed the Social Affairs team leader, who stepped out of the office.
“Does she have no idea either?”
“Probably not?”
“Hmm—”
Eun-yoo let out a long sigh.
“Give me some time. I need to discuss this with her first.”
“At any rate, the scoop belongs to us. Got it?”
“Yeah, the scoop is ours.”
Joo-hyuk repeated her words weakly, as if parroting them back.
He rose from the sofa. He was the one who had dropped the bombshell, yet somehow, he was the one feeling the fallout.
“Choi Joo-hyuk.”
As he turned to leave, Eun-yoo called out to stop him.
When he turned around, she was smiling brightly.
“Congratulations on your marriage.”
“Mm, thanks.”
He nodded in acknowledgment.
“Let’s go on a double date sometime.”
“We’re fine with it, but do you think she’ll be okay with it?”
“Mm, probably?”
Though he wasn’t entirely certain, he felt confident enough to say so. Based on what he knew of Sena, she wasn’t the type to judge same-sex couples or openly display discomfort even if she disapproved.
“She seems like a good person. You look really happy.”
“Mm, she’s a good person. I think you’ll like her when you meet her.”
“I hope so.”
“Alright, I’m heading out.”
Joo-hyuk raised his hand in farewell and left the News Director’s office.
Outside, employees who had been waiting stood up and bowed deeply as they saw him. He exchanged brief greetings with each of them before hurrying into the hallway.
As the company grew and the number of employees increased, their attitudes toward him gradually changed. Though he hadn’t changed at all, their formal behavior often made him feel awkward, as if his limbs were cramping. But it was something he had to endure.
When he returned to his office via the elevator, Secretary Park greeted him with a worried expression.
“Welcome back, CEO. We have a guest waiting for you.”
“A guest? Who is it?”
Despite his attempt at a smile, Park’s expression remained tense.
“Chairman Choi—your father—is here.”
At the mention of his father, Joo-hyuk’s smile vanished instantly.
Park hadn’t personally escorted Joo-hyuk’s father to his office, but he still stood there guiltily, looking at Joo-hyhyuk with an apologetic expression. None of this sat well with Joo-hyuk.
“How long has he been waiting?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking how long my father has been waiting inside.”
“Ah, about 20 minutes…”
After checking the clock on the wall, Park answered hesitantly.
Upon hearing this, Joo-hyuk turned and sat down on the sofa opposite Park’s desk without another word.
“CEO?”
“I’ll stay here for about 10 more minutes.”
“What?”
Park looked startled, but Joo-hyuk raised a finger to his lips, signaling silence.
“Let him wait another 10 minutes.”
“Ah... yes...”
Park seemed to understand and quietly took his seat.
Joo-hyuk silently stared at the firmly closed door of his office. He imagined what kind of expression Chairman Choi would be wearing as he waited for him inside.
The only people uncomfortable during this time were Chairman Choi and Park.
If it meant making his father even slightly uneasy, Joo-hyuk was more than willing to do so. Thus, he gladly wasted these precious 10 minutes that no amount of money could buy.
“What brings you all the way to my company?”
As Joo-hyuk entered the office, he didn’t even glance at Chairman Choi and immediately headed to his desk. Sitting down, he opened his laptop and stared at the screen—a silent signal that if his father had something to say, he should hurry up and leave soon.
The sharp gaze of his father followed Joo-hyuk’s profile, but he refused to meet his eyes.
“You should’ve answered your phone.”
“Oh, did you call?”
“Yes, your brother tried reaching you.”
“Ah, I thought you were the one who called.”
Joo-hyuk deflected the question without explaining why he hadn’t answered, subtly mocking his father for not calling directly and instead having someone else do it.
But Chairman Choi didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
“How’s the wedding preparation coming along?”
“Why don’t you stop showing interest?”
“Stop showing interest?”
Chairman Choi repeated Joo-hyuk’s cold response with equal frostiness.
“Aren’t you satisfied now that I’m marrying the woman you want me to marry?”
“Don’t get cocky with me.”
“And if I do?”
“Tsk, tsk.”
Chairman Choi clicked his tongue sharply.
“If the girl doesn’t suit your tastes, just endure it for about a year. By then, I’ll have acquired that company.”
What was this nonsense? Was he planning to take over President Kang’s company and then discard him?
Joo-hyuk furrowed his brows.
“Are you trying to take over that company?”
“Take over? I’m merely investing because I see it as a good opportunity.”
“But you mentioned acquiring it?”
“That’s what happens if you don’t listen to me. Same goes if the girl doesn’t meet your expectations.”
“Why are you forcing this marriage on me?”
For the first time, Joo-hyuk asked the question he should have asked long ago.
“A token of our agreement, you could say. On their side, they’re sending their only daughter as my daughter-in-law, entrusting their business to me. And on my side, by accepting her into our family, I’m promising to help them in return. That’s what family is all about.”
As the word “family” rolled off Chairman Choi’s tongue so casually, Joo-hyuk’s eyebrows twitched involuntarily.
“Family... A token of an agreement...”
He let out a bitter laugh and shook his head.
It was unbelievable—no, incomprehensible—that the person spouting these two nonsensical words was none other than his own father.
“You haven’t forgotten the promise you made with me, have you?”
“Promise? What promise?”
“Father!”
For the first time, Joo-hyuk turned to face Chairman Choi directly.
“Fine, fine. Moving your mother’s grave to the ancestral burial ground will settle it, won’t it? She’s already dead. Does it really matter where she’s buried...?”
Chairman Choi muttered discontentedly.
Joo-hyuk shook his head and turned his gaze back to the monitor.
If people who slandered concubines had criticized his mother for not being allowed in the ancestral burial ground, he might have been able to ignore it. But the one who had ultimately dishonored his mother’s lonely death was none other than Chairman Choi himself.
“Your mother wasn’t the type to be greedy.”
That’s what Chairman Choi had said when Joo-hyuk, still in high school, had begged to move his mother’s grave next to the resting place of his half-brothers’ mother.
She wasn’t the type to be greedy.
No—she had stepped aside without complaint after realizing that Chairman Choi was a married man with a wife and children.
Even when her child, born in secret, was taken away from her because he was a son, she hadn’t uttered a single word of protest.
She had died alone, quietly succumbing to cancer, without even informing her own son. That was his mother.
After her death, she was buried beneath an unnamed tree on some distant mountain, far from the family’s ancestral burial ground.
And so, the moment Joo-hyuk had earned enough money, the first thing he did was enshrine his mother’s remains in a memorial hall.
And yet…
Anger surged through him, and the veins on his hand gripping the mouse bulged. Still, he didn’t say another word.
Bringing up the distant past only served to upset him further.
“Do you keep in touch with Joo-chan?”
“Occasionally.”
“Joo-chan is running for mayor of Seoul next year.”
“Mayor of Seoul?”
Joo-hyuk thought of his younger brother Joo-chan and let out a brief sigh.
“Guess three terms as a district representative weren’t enough for him, huh?”
“That boy has the most tenacity in our family.”
“Is he aiming for the presidency?”
“Of course.”
Was it really that obvious?
“He’s the one who will restore our family’s glory. He’s an impressive man.”
Would his brother truly agree with that? Joo-hyuk held back from asking Chairman Choi outright. The urge to point out that the root of all their family’s problems was none other than his father rose within him. His younger brother Joo-chan had entered politics and served three terms as a district representative—not because it suited him, but because Chairman Choi had demanded it.
“I don’t have any particular ambitions.”
Joo-chan had accepted every demand Chairman Choi made, just going with the flow, saying things like, “Fortunately, I have the ability to do so.”
“When did you say your broadcasting station is launching?”
“Right after the wedding, next week.”
“For your brother to become mayor, he needs public opinion on his side.”
“Enough,” Joo-hyuk cut him off.
He already knew what Chairman Choi was about to say without needing to hear it.
“I will never hand over my broadcasting station to you.”
“Who said anything about handing it over? I’m just saying it would help your brother—”
“Listen!” Joo-hyuk interrupted firmly, his voice low but resolute. “If my brother does something good, we’ll report it accordingly.”
“You stubborn fool. If our family prospers, it benefits you too.”
“This isn’t about flexibility. Do you even realize how dirty it is when politics and media collude?”
“Fine, you useless brat.”
Chairman Choi abruptly stood up from the sofa.
“Not once have you ever said, ‘Yes, I understand,’ or done as I asked.”
He shook his head and clicked his tongue in frustration. His youngest son always chose to do exactly what he told him not to, and worse, he did it thoroughly.
“You said your broadcasting station won’t fall into my hands, huh?”
As he turned toward the door, he suddenly spun back to face Joo-hyuk.
“Don’t be so confident.”
“What do you mean...?”
Joo-hyuk looked up quizzically, but Chairman Choi only smirked, his lips curling upward.
“My ride.”
“I can’t leave just yet.”
Joo-hyuk rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the monitor, silently praying for Chairman Choi to leave as soon as possible.
Finally, the office door closed, leaving Joo-hyuk alone inside. He let out a long sigh and leaned forward to stretch his back.
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